Dec 29, 2008
A Mt. Rushmore of the Mind
In John F. Harris & Alexander Burns,"Straw Man? Historians say Obama is no Lincoln," Politico, 15 December, and Matt Carey,"Historian sees lessons, Lincoln parallels for Obama," CNN, 23 December, Princeton's Sean Wilentz and Jim McPherson have a gentlemen's disagreement about Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. Josh Marshall and Eric Rauchway wonder if Obama is trolling Wilentz.
Ronald J. Pestritto,"Theodore Roosevelt Was No Conservative," WSJ, 26 December, argues that TR shouldn't represent the future of the Republican Party; and draws a reply in Max Boot's"TR, Still a Conservative," Contentions, 27 December.
A Rasmussen poll tests public opinion about whether Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan was the best American president of the 20th century.